Author's Note: I had no idea what to do with this story for a while, but I've finally figured some things out. Warning: This has some heavy gore coming. After this chapter, things go bad quickly, and… well, you know what happens to these kids, and it's not pretty.

I held Addie tightly, and she spilled the story.

She and Whisper were seven when their aunt Emmeline nearly drowned in the river. When she was revived, she told everyone about an incredible forest, filled with magic. She wouldn't believe it was a dream, insisting that everything was really there, just over the garden wall in the graveyard, waiting for her to come back.

Of course, only her nieces believed her, and Addie stopped eventually, accepting that her beloved aunt was a crackpot. Whisper, on the other hand, never stopped visiting Emmeline, talking to her for hours on end…

"If we're in Aunt Emmeline's forest, then that means that we're probably also at the bottom of the river, like she was. It's my fault. We might be dying, and it's my fault!" Addie sobbed into my shoulder. I let her cry into my leather jacket for a few minutes, before Whisper came marching up to us angrily.

"What did you say to my sister?" she growled at me.

"What? No! I-"

Addie wiped her tears, and glowered up at her twin. "He didn't say anything. I'm freaking out because we're dying. I would think you might be more worried about that!"

"As long as we keep fighting our way through the forest, we'll be fine," Enoch cut in, grinning. "I hope you don't mind that I overheard. I came back to say that I saw smoke overhead. That means a town, right? If this is the death forest, which seems highly improbable but not impossible, then there might be people who never made it back. The town could, of course, be a trap, but if this is actually just a normal forest, and we were somehow drugged by that crazy old man (which is far more likely), then most likely someone in that town has a phone or car, and we can get home."

Enoch has a tendency to explain everything to everyone. He thinks that just because he's scary-smart, the rest of us are idiots. Well… he did the last time I saw him, at least. He's… alive? I guess… I don't know, undead maybe?

He would be able to explain it better than I can. Anyway.

"Okay, if everyone else is here, where the hell is Sunshine?" I asked.

Enoch gave me a deadpan look. "You do not trust her, do you? I asked her to scout ahead. She's only a few months younger than I am, you know."

"You're a freshman, Enoch. I don't trust you all that much either," I told him offhandedly, as I got up and began marching up the path toward the smoke rising from behind the trees.

"Good to know," he muttered sarcastically from behind me.

Sunshine was only a little ways ahead, and I caught up to her quickly. Then I kind of yelled at both my sister and her paramour.

"WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DAMN FOREST! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO? WE CAN'T LET ONE PERSON GO OFF ALONE OR WE COULD END UP BEING PERMANANTLY SEPARATED!"

They kind of went from glaring to embarrassment to regret pretty quickly. I won't apologize for that. Say what you will about me, but I am the reason we didn't get separated… then, anyway. Eventually, shit happened, but…

We reached the town. It was pretty weird; I'll give you that. I had seen places like this in movies, the kind that Sunshine loved, with kings, and princesses, and knights, and other total bull. You can probably picture it. Thing is, we didn't see any driveways, cars, or even paved roads. No electrical wires, or people either. It was… well, creepy.

"I… I think this supports Whisper's theory, about this being a dead place," I mentioned as we strolled through the streets. There's stillness about the place that felt unnatural. It's like when, in a movie, suddenly everything is silent, and you know something is coming, but then the tension builds, and…

"Yeah. I agree," Enoch whispered. We can all hear him though.

"A dead place?" Sunshine asked. "What exactly did I miss?"

Whisper explained as quickly as she could, while I glanced inside one of the houses.

"Hey, guys, there's nobody here, but there's some food and stuff," I told my friends.

I mean, we'd been stomping through a freakish forest all day, after getting capsized on a raft. Hell, yes, we were hungry, okay? I didn't know what was going to happen when we grabbed some food from off a table.

Enoch took a bite out of a big, red apple, and grinned.

"Dead or not, this stuff is good," he laughed, tossing Sunshine a pear. She grinned, and took a bite herself. I grabbed… was it an orange? I can't remember. It was some sort of fruit, anyway. I remember that it tasted better than anything I'd ever had before, though.

We stuffed as much food as we could carry into our pockets, and left the house, grinning.

We were a little ways away when the gilt caught up with my angelic little sister.

"We need to at least leave a thank-you note," she insisted, turning back.

I shrugged, because why the hell not? I thought we were on a lucky streak, so why not give Sunshine that moral satisfaction?

Addie and Whisper decided to go back with her, after I shot them a look, and Enoch and I sat down on a fallen tree.

"I really do trust you, you know," I mentioned. "I was just seriously worried. I don't know what's real anymore, and since that dick did… whatever, to me, I've been worrying about what else is in this forest. I don't want someone, especially my sister, to wander off alone and not come back. You guys might be killed, or tortured like what that guy did to me, or…"

Enoch punched me in the arm. "Dude. You're sixteen. You're not our dad. Look, if you're that worried about everything, then I can help out. I swear, I'll do whatever it takes to protect Sunshine."

I took a long look at this guy. He was one of my closest friends, and he was the one I could always count on. Yeah, he was kind of big headed, but he always did what he said he'd do. I honestly couldn't have chosen a guy I trusted more to be with my little sister.

"Yeah, okay," I nodded, letting a half smile slide across my face. "Thanks."

Enoch shrugged, and blasted me with one of his huge grins. "Any time."

"Save a few of those smiles for my sister," I rolled my eyes, and he laughed.

That's when Addie came running up, a look of sheer terror on her face.

"Skeletons!" she shrieked. "The town was full of living skeletons, and they have Sunshine and Whisper!"